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This is war propaganda

This is war propaganda
A 2013 Mondoweiss article exposing how war propaganda gets a "makeover". The same military action is rebranded for media: "targeted operation" instead of "bombing", "self-defense" instead of "aggression". Goal: reshape public perception and sell the war.

COVERT WAR ON TERROR Yemen: reported US covert action 2012

COVERT WAR ON TERROR Yemen: reported US covert action 2012
2012 report on reported US covert operations in Yemen as part of the "War on Terror". The article discusses secret military actions, drone strikes, and how they were covered in media. Source: bladalarb.blogspot.com

CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY
CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY Article from Brussels Tribunal calling on global activists, intellectuals, and movements to unite in solidarity with Iraq and against occupation. Source: brussellstribunal.org

Saddam’s VP, Izzat ad-Douri: Maliki follows Iran’s agenda to divide Iraq /Video)

Saddam’s VP, Izzat ad-Douri: Maliki follows Iran’s agenda to divide Iraq /Video)
2013 video statement by Saddam's former VP Izzat ad-Douri. He accuses PM Maliki of following Iran's agenda to divide Iraq. Source: bladalarb.blogspot.com

BOOKS ON IRAQ

BOOKS ON IRAQ
click Pic.

The US War crimes on Iraq

The US War crimes on Iraq
How much they hate Iraq and why?

War in Mali : STOP THIS

War in Mali : STOP THIS
CLICK PHOTO

War in Syria : STOP THIS

War in Syria : STOP THIS
CLICK PHOTO

Welcome to Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War

Welcome to Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War
Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War The Foundation promotes justice and accountability for war crimes. It seeks to bring political and military leaders responsible for aggression and crimes against humanity to an international tribunal.

Criminalize War - War is about killing, massive killing

Criminalize War - War is about killing, massive killing
A - List of killed Iraqi academics

"Kill Anything That Moves"

"Kill Anything That Moves"
Military Doctrine Began in Vietnam

How the Pentagon is hiding the dead The secret campaign to undercount the ‘war on terror’ death tol

How the Pentagon is hiding the dead The secret campaign to undercount the ‘war on terror’ death tol
CLICK The PIC

U.S. Officials Guilty of War Crimes

U.S. Officials Guilty of War Crimes
for the Iraq War

The Massacre of Al-Amiriyah Shelter Remembered – 2/10/13

The Massacre of Al-Amiriyah Shelter Remembered – 2/10/13
click Pic

PILOTS FOR 9/11 TRUTH

PILOTS FOR 9/11 TRUTH
Now available

US War Crimes

US War Crimes
Coverup of Extensive War Crimes

Barack Obama : A Gigantic Fraud upon the American People

Barack Obama : A Gigantic Fraud upon the American People
Clik Pict.

The victims of Fallujah's health crisis are stifled by western silence

The victims of Fallujah's health crisis are stifled by western silence
To research a possible link between US bombardment and rates of birth defects and pediatric cancer in Iraq is a moral imperative

If Americans Knew

If Americans Knew
UN Resolutions Targeting Israel and the Palestinians

40% of Palestinian Children Detained by Israel Sexually Abused; Virtually All Tortured

40% of Palestinian Children Detained by Israel Sexually Abused; Virtually All Tortured
Click Pict.

The Iraq War began when

The Iraq War began when
CLICK PC.

Israeli soldiers raid Al Aqsa courtyard, attack worshipers

Israeli soldiers raid Al Aqsa courtyard, attack worshipers
CLICK The PIC

#CrowdActivism 911 Mass Arrests!

#CrowdActivism 911 Mass Arrests!
Click for RAW Evidence DECIDE *now*!

War Crimes Are US

War Crimes Are US
Depleted Uranium weapons: Why shouldn’t it be a war crime to poison civilians with radiation?

The Iraqi weapons of mass destruction

The Iraqi weapons of mass destruction
Found at last! After searching for 10 years, the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction have finally been found – in Syria

The Mother of All Battles The Endless U.S.-Iraq War

The Mother of All Battles The Endless U.S.-Iraq War
Book by Jeff Archer

MASS Graves uncovered accidentally unveiling true dangers of iranian backed militias in iraq

MASS Graves uncovered accidentally unveiling true dangers of iranian backed militias in iraq
REPORT Foreign Relations Bureau - Iraq - United Kingdom

Get the REAL DEAL

CLICK TO VISIT

operation iraqi freedom

operation iraqi freedom
click PC

LIST OF KILLED IRAQI ACADEMICS

LIST OF KILLED IRAQI ACADEMICS
ASSASSINATED IRAQI MEDIA PROFESSIONALS

International Lawyers Seek Justice for Iraqis

International Lawyers Seek Justice for Iraqis
Sabah al-Mukhtar is the president of the Arab Lawyers Association and chair of the Iraq Commission

A World Appeal to Anti-war Forces: STAND WITH IRAQ!

A World Appeal to Anti-war Forces: STAND WITH IRAQ!
click the photo

Engineering solution for Radioactive Waste in IRAQ

Engineering solution for Radioactive Waste in IRAQ
Engineering Solution for Radioactive Waste in IRAQ

Wikileaks Iraq: data journalism maps every death

Wikileaks Iraq: data journalism maps every death
Iraq war logs release has dumped some 391,000 records

Report on Status of Iraq

Report on Status of Iraq
Government War Crimes in Anbar Province

Historical Analysis of the Global Elite: Ransacking the World Economy Until ‘You’ll Own Nothing.’

COVERT WAR ON TERROR Yemen: reported US covert action 2012

COVERT WAR ON TERROR Yemen: reported US covert action 2012

Sir Henry Kissinger: Midwife to New Babylon

Sir Henry Kissinger: Midwife to New Babylon
The moment Kissinger’s last breath left his corpse, media commentators lost no time running out the gates, either singing songs of slavish praise about the “great liberal statesman”clik Pict.

Action in Ghent 16 March. 7000 posters were distributed by 70 volunteers. A lot of "Justice For Ira

Beyond Torture U.S. Violations of Occupation Law in Iraq

Beyond Torture U.S. Violations of Occupation Law in Iraq
A report by the Center for Economic and Social Rights

Iraqi Children: Deprived Rights, Stolen future

Iraqi Children: Deprived Rights, Stolen future
click PIC

Syria News - August 16, 2013 (Warning: Graphic Videos)

Syria News - August 16, 2013 (Warning: Graphic Videos)
Local Coordination Committees of Syria + Videos

Letter From Yemen by Felicity Arbuthnot + Defining Drone Deaths in Yemen

Handwritten letter from President Saddam Hussein to the American people. 7 July 2006.

Handwritten letter from President Saddam Hussein to the American people. 7 July 2006.
To the American people:

Saddam Hussein refuses to sell out Iraq.

Saddam Hussein refuses to sell out Iraq.
Saddam Hussein refuses to sell out Iraq. Egyptian Magazine publishes transcript of meeting in prison between Saddam Hussein and Donald Rumsfeld.

Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations

Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (23 - 29 May 2013)

Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (05 - 12 Jun

Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (05 - 12 Jun
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)

IRAKDOSSIER in DE WERELD MORGEN: verschillende Engelstalige artikels die op deze website staan, wer

Why I have two brothers called Omar

Why I have two brothers called Omar

Yousef M. Aljamal

May 30, 2013

Omar Aljamal was killed by Israeli forces in 2004.
When Israel kills a Palestinian, it not only abruptly ends his or her life, it leaves deep wounds with the family that time cannot heal. And it pushes the family to threaten Israel demographically by having one more child — perhaps even more.
The years of the first and second Palestinian intifadas — not to mention the preceding years of Naksa (setback) in 1967 and Nakba (catastrophe) in 1948 — witnessed the birth of thousands of children who were named after Palestinians shot dead by Israel.
Israel’s attempts to reduce Palestinians’ numbers have never proven successful. The possibility that the "demographic time-bomb" will explode only becomes increasingly likely as Israel kills more Palestinians.
Palestinian women, such as my mother who gave birth to 13 children (excluding two who died before birth), have kept on delivering more children and naming them after those who died. My brother Omar is no exception.
The year 1986 saw the birth of my eldest brother, Omar M. Aljamal. It was a year before the outbreak of the first intifada. Omar grew up under occupation in an area called Block A, also known as al-Kalaboush, (Arabic slang for "chains" or "shackles") in Gaza’s crowded Nuseirat refugee camp.
The Block A area, where my family still lives, was used by the British Mandateas a prison. The gate of the prison is the only exit that the neighborhood has today.
One day, during the years of the first intifada, a group of Israeli soldiers stormed Omar’s room, looking for stone-throwers under his bed. This incident stayed in Omar’s memory for years.
When he was 17, my brother joined the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing ofHamas. He joined because of the killings and the home demolitions he had seen growing up.
Before then, he had — like many of his peers — thrown stones at the Israeli army. On one occasion — when he was 15 or 16 — he was shot in the leg with a rubber-coated steel bullet. Omar did not tell our parents about his injury; they learned about it from a relative who was shot the same day and saw Omar at the hospital.

Potatoes with sugar

On 6 March 2004, I prepared some potatoes to kill my hunger. Omar rushed to the house and asked me to give him some of my delicious fried slices of potatoes. I refused.
He persisted, reminding me of the old days when he shared many dishes with me. Under pressure from my mother who almost made me feel guilty, I accepted.
That day, Omar put sugar instead of salt on the potatoes. We tried to cover up the taste of the sugar with extra salt but it was pointless. We ate the fried potatoes together.
I didn’t know that this dinner would be Omar’s last.

Shot "in front of my eyes"

The next day dozens of Israeli military vehicles invaded al-Nuseirat, which Ariel Sharon, Israel’s prime minister at the time, called the "den of wasps" for the leading role its residents had played in the first and second intifadas. Omar was shot. Six bullets hit the front right side of his body.
Saber, one of his friends who witnessed the shooting, described it later with tears: "Omar, Khaled and I entered the orange orchard to the east of the refugee camp. We wanted to make it to al-Bureij refugee camp as some people reported the presence of Israeli military vehicles there. As we walked in the orchard, snipers who were hiding in a building that was under construction in the middle of the orchard started shooting at us. Omar fell first, grabbing his AK-47."
Saber, a father of three, still visits the shared grave of Omar and Khaled.
"Khaled tried to comfort Omar by placing his head on his grenade pouch. He was shot next to him in front of my eyes," Saber told us on several occasions.

"Surrounded by snipers"

"I tried to grovel to get medics to evacuate them," Saber told us. "I was shot at, but I managed to leave the orchard eventually. I begged medics to get in to rescue them, but none of them was willing to do so. The area was surrounded by snipers and tanks."
The news of "two young men" being shot to death spread like wildfire in the alleys of the refugee camp. Saber, feeling helpless, decided to go to the orchard to get them out. He knew what the consequences could be, but he feared nothing as the image of his two close friends bleeding next to a tank stationed beside a house with snipers inside kept jumping in front of his eyes.
"As I tried to move towards them, I was shot at. I got closer to them, but I was shot near them," Saber recalled.
Medics finally managed to get the three of them out of the orchard. Omar and Khaled were dead, Saber critically injured. The resilient refugee camp, once a home for Omar and Khaled, received the news of their death with shock.
That day witnessed the killings of 14 Palestinians from the adjacent Nuseirat and al-Bureij camps.
The way my parents were told of Omar’s death was no different to the way the families of all 14 victims were told.
One of Omar’s friends told my father that Omar had been wounded in the leg but was in the hospital and doing OK.
My father did not speak a word. We drove to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. As we entered the main gate, we were received by some relatives and friends. They hugged my dad, with tears falling from their eyes. My father was regarded as the "father of a martyr."
Saber later recalled: "When I woke up two weeks later at the hospital, I asked about Omar and Khaled. I was told that they are ok, recovering from injuries, the same as me. But when I left the hospital, I was told the shocking truth."

How will we explain?


The younger Omar. 
This is not the end of the story.Two years later, my mother delivered another boy and, as expected, named him after my eldest brother. So I ended up with two brothers named Omar. One is dead, the other is not.
One is my eldest brother; the other is my youngest brother. One used to take care of me when I was younger; the other one is being looked after by me now.
I am officially the eldest brother now. But I am not really. Omar, my youngest brother, regards me as his eldest brother. I regard the "real" Omar as my eldest brother.
"My friends are going to visit us," Omar, the youngest in our family says, when he learns that some of my elder brother’s friends are going to visit.
Had he lived, my elder brother Omar would have turned 27 this week. His birthday is 30 May.
At some point in his life, my younger brother will start asking questions: Why was I named after my brother? Why do both of us have the same name? Why did I think for a long time that his friends were mine? Why did Israel invade the "den of wasps" and kill 14 Palestinians, including Omar, in March 2004?
How will we answer these questions?
Images courtesy of the author.
Yousef M. Aljamal is a Gaza-based blogger and co-translator of The Prisoner Diaries. His website is www.yeljamal.wordpress.com and he can be followed on Twitter: @YousefAljamal.

Source 

Violence and rumors plague Iraq

Violence and rumors plague Iraq

The Common Ills

May 30, 2013

Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count counts 839 violent deaths in Iraq so far this month -- two days left in the month, today and tomorrow.  TodayNational Iraqi News Agency reports a Baghdad roadside bombing claimed 1 life and left six people injured, a Mosul roadside bombing left three people injured,2 Iraqi border guards in Anbar Province were killed by men "wearing police uniforms," a Mosul suicide car bombing claimed the lives of 3 police officers and left eight more injured, a Baghdad car bombing (Karrada district) claimed 1 life and left nine people injured,  2 Baghdad car bombings (Binooq neighborhood and one "near the Mission Complex") left 6 people dead and nineteen injured, and a Ramadi bombing assassination attempt on Anbar Province Governor Qassim Mohammed al-Fahdawi left the governor unscathed but injured four of his bodyguards. Al Rafidayn notes that motorcycles and vehicles have been banned in Baghdad today and tomorrow.

Deutsche Welle observes, "Earlier in the week, the United Nations envoy to the country called on leading Iraqi politicians to hold urgent talks aimed at resolving a series of political disputes that have left the government powerless to take decisive action to end the violence."

The violence has been increasing for some time.  A smart move would have been to have filled the security ministries with people to head them.  That was supposed to happen in 2010.  All these years later, it still hasn't.   All Iraq News notes MP Yousif al-Taai, with Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc, "stressed the necessity of nominating the security ministers rather than running the security ministries by acting ministers."  Back in July, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."  Acting ministers and a question mark for a president?


 Last December,  Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke.   The incident took place late on December 17th (see the December 18th snapshot) and resulted in Jalal being admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital.   Thursday, December 20th, he was moved to Germany.  He remains in Germany currently.  At the start of the month, there were new rumors swirling about his health and, this past week,  Nouri al-Maliki attempted to have Jalal stripped of his post this month.  (Parliament rejected the notion.) Following that,  Al Madaran a photo of Jalal Talabani seated outdoors with his medical team and noted the team states the Iraqi President's health has continued to improve and he will return to Iraq shortly.  

Arabic social media has been referring to the photos and the video as having aWeekend At Bernie's type feel to it.  (In Weekend At Bernie's, two young men prop up the corpse of dead Bernie to trick people into believing he's alive.)  The fact that Jalal's only seen in the video and the photos from his right side have people speculating about what the left side shows -- the after-effects of a stroke? Salah Nasrawi (Al-Ahram) notes:

Rumours have been abundant about Talabani’s health condition as his convalescence coincides with one of Iraq’s most serious political crises and its deadliest period of ethno-sectarian strife since the United States pullout in 2011.
Some reports have suggested that Talabani is clinically dead in the Berlin hospital where he is treated, others said the enfeebled president has handed his will to one of the leaders of his party.
Regardless of the furious speculations among Iraqis about Talabani’s health conditions, his prolonged absence has sparked a debate about whether he will be physically able to resume official duties.
According to various medical studies, persons who had strokes mostly develop serious physical and emotional problems occurring after recovery and they will need prolonged treatment.

Source 

Military Resistance 11E20: USA USA

Military Resistance 11E20: USA USA

Thomas F Barton

May 30, 2013


:: Article nr. 98031 sent on 02-jun-2013 20:12 ECT

www.uruknet.info?p=98031 

Mass graves of Palestinians killed in 1948 Nakba discovered in Jaffa

Mass graves of Palestinians killed in 1948 Nakba discovered in Jaffa

Al-Akhbar

30mass-graves-jaffa.jpg
A picture by the al-Aqsa Foundation shows skeletons buried in a mass grave.

May 30, 2013
Six mass grave sites dating back to the 1936 Palestinian uprising and the 1948 Nakba were discovered around the Jaffa cemetery, the al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage reported Wednesday, revealing hundreds of bodies of Palestinians killed by Zionist forces.

"During [the foundation’s] repair and maintenance work on the [Kazkhana] cemetery, we discovered nozzles to dig into the ground where we found the mass graves...including hundreds of skeletons and human remains of rebels, martyrs and civilians who perished during the Nakba," head of the Islamic Movement in Jaffa, Sheikh Mohammed Najem, said in the report.

The foundation has proved the remains date back to the victims killed in the 1948 war, whether from bombings and shelling of residential neighborhoods or snipers located around the city, the report said.

"The Kazkhana cemetery has exposed the historical facts that Israel has tried to hide and erase for over 65 years relating to the massacres committed by Zionist gangs during the 1948 Palestinian Nakba," it read.

"These mass graves have banished all doubts of the certainty of oral histories collected by historians of people who lived through the Nakba of 1948 and parts of the war documenting massacres in Jaffa and its suburbs," the report added.

Some of the recorded histories document eyewitnesses witnessing piles of bodies scattered around in all of Jaffa’s neighborhoods, which were buried in mass graves due to the violent circumstances at the time.

The report shares an eyewitness account explaining how the residents of Jaffa were forced to move bodies to the cemetery and bury them in mass graves as the town was being heavily bombarded by Zionist forces.

"The foundation will continue to conduct research and scientifically test the remains...to send media messages to the whole world that Israel is built on the skulls of the Palestinian people," Abed al-Majid Ighbariya, the head of the files on holy sites of the foundation, said.

The Nakba, or "Catastrophe," refers to the expropriation and mass expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland by Zionists.

Source 

Bush’s Invasion of Iraq was Criminal … Obama’s About to Do the Same Thing In Syria

Bush’s Invasion of Iraq was Criminal … Obama’s About to Do the Same Thing In Syria

Bush Launched the Iraq War For Oil … Obama Is Launching the Syrian War for Natural Gas

The former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – the highest ranking military officer in the United States – said that the Iraq war was “based on a series of lies”.
Many high-ranking military officials, top Republican leaders and key architects of the Iraq war said that the war was really about oil.  And yet the American people haven’t seen any benefit … top oil economists have said that the Iraq war substantially raised the price of oil.
The American government sold the Iraq war under false pretenses.
Indeed, the American government planned the Iraq war long before 9/11.  Former CIA director George Tenet said that the White House wanted to invade Iraq long before 9/11, and inserted “crap” in its justifications for invading Iraq.  Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill – who sat on the National Security Council – also says that Bush planned the Iraq war before 9/11.  Top British officials say that the U.S. discussed Iraq regime change even before Bush took office. In 2000, Cheney said a Bush administration might “have to take military action to forcibly remove Saddam from power.” And see thisand this. Indeed, neoconservatives planned regime change .
National security experts – including both hawks and doves – agree that waging war against Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries has weakened America’s national security and increased terrorism risks. See this, this, this, this, this, this, this and this.
Similarly, neoconservatives planned regime change .
And carrying out acts of violence and blaming it on the Syrian government as an excuse for regime change – i.e. false flag terror – was discussed over 50 years ago by British and American leaders.
And Western governments want regime change in Syria because of gas:
Syria is an integral partof the proposed 1,200km Arab Gas Pipeline:
Here are some additional graphics courtesy of Adam Curry:
A picture named arabGasPipeline.jpg
A picture named syria-turkey.jpg
A picture named levantprovince2.jpg
***
Syria’s central role in the Arab gas pipeline is … a key to why it is now being targeted.
Just as the Taliban was scheduled for removal after they demanded too much in return for the Unocal pipeline, Syria’s Assad is being targeted because he is not a reliable “player”.
Specifically, Turkey, Israel and their ally the U.S. want an assured flow of gas through Syria, and don’t want a Syrian regime which is not unquestionably loyal to those 3 countries to stand in the way of the pipeline … or which demands too big a cut of the profits.
A deal has also been inked to run a natural gas pipeline from Iran’s giant South Pars field through Iraq and Syria (with a possible extension to Lebanon).
And a deal to run petroleum from Iraq’s Kirkuk oil field to the Syrian port of Banias has also been approved:
Turkey and Israel would be cut out of these competing pipelines.
No wonder Turkey and Israel are both launching military strikes against Syria.
On the other hand, Russia’s giant natural gas industry would be threatened if Syria’s current regime is toppled … no wonder Israel and Russia are getting into it over Syria.
And the monarchies in Qatar and Saudi Arabia would also benefit as competitors in the gas market if Syria’s regime is taken out … so they’re backing the “rebels” as well.
And the U.S. is heavily backing backed Al Qaeda terrorists in Syria. (even the New York Times reportsthat virtually all of the rebel fighters are Al Qaeda terrorists.)
Indeed, the U.S. has been arming the Syrian opposition since 2006.
And the U.S. is now considering imposing a no-fly zone over Syria … which was also the opening move in the wars against Iraq and Libya.
Bush launched the Iraq war under false pretenses … similarly, the war in Syria is really being launched by Obama and natural gas players in the region who want to cut Syria and Russia out of the game.
Postscript: If the corporate media were reporting more accurately on Syria than they did on Iraq, the American people would realize that there is grave doubt about who is most responsible for the violence, and who really used chemical weapons in Syria.
Not that Assad is a saint, but he poses no danger to the United States, and shouldn’t be demonized and turned into a threat to American national security man any more than Saddam Hussein.
The Iraq war will end up with a final price tag of between $5-6 trillion dollars.  We simply can’t afford to get involved in another war … especially with Russia and Iran actively aligned against us.

WATCH: IOF Soldiers Beat Palestinian during Arrest, Camera Turns Away

WATCH: IOF Soldiers Beat Palestinian during Arrest, Camera Turns Away

Palestine News Network

29el_vedieo_fds_340_220.jpg
May 29, 2013


 

The human rights organization B'tselem published on Tuesday 27th May, a footage featuring a number of Israeli soldiers and Border Guard officers beating a Palestinian man from Ramallah village during his arrest.

According to B'tselem Statement, the incident occurred in late April in the village of Silwad, located east of Ramallah in the West Bank, and was documented by a security camera belonging to the Ofra settlement.

The footage shows an Israeli soldier while arresting the Palestinian, Muhammad Da'ar Sa'ad from the village of Al-Mazra'a Al-Sharqiya, during confrontations erupted in the area back then. One of the soldiers knocked him to the ground and started beating him, and then other soldiers joined and hit the Palestinian.

The statement added, the footage was exposed due to the efforts of the Palestinian's attorney. The Military Prosecution withdrew its claim that he had thrown stones and then he was released.

Based on the footage, B'Tselem accused the operators of the camera of purposely turning it away from the incident. The human rights group further said that the footage was not transferred to the Palestinian's attorney.

B'Tselem also said the filming was disrupted while the soldiers were beating the Palestinian.

Source 

Open Letter from Alice Walker to Alicia Keys Regarding the Boycott of Israel

Open Letter from Alice Walker to Alicia Keys Regarding the Boycott of Israel

Alice Walker

29alicewalkerramallah.jpg
[Alice Walker in Ramallah on 16 April 2011. Photo by TEDxRamallah via Flickr]

May 29, 2013
Dear Alicia Keys,

I have learned today that you are due to perform in Israel very soon. We have never met, though I believe we are mutually respectful of each other’s path and work. It would grieve me to know you are putting yourself in danger (soul danger) by performing in an apartheid country that is being boycotted by many global conscious artists. You were not born when we, your elders who love you, boycotted institutions in the US South to end an American apartheid less lethal than Israel’s against the Palestinian people. Google Montgomery Bus Boycott, if you don’t know about this civil rights history already. We changed our country fundamentally, and the various boycotts of Israeli institutions and products will do the same there. It is our only nonviolent option and, as we learned from our own struggle in America, nonviolence is the only path to a peaceful future.

If you go to my website and blog alicewalkersgarden.com you can quickly find many articles I have written over the years that explain why a cultural boycott of Israel and Israeli institutions (not individuals) is the only option left to artists who cannot bear the unconscionable harm Israel inflicts every day on the people of Palestine, whose major "crime" is that they exist in their own land, land that Israel wants to control as its own. Under a campaign named 'Brand Israel’, Israeli officials have stated specifically their intent to downplay the Palestinian conflict by using culture and arts to showcase Israel as a modern, welcoming place.

This is actually a wonderful opportunity for you to learn about something sorrowful, and amazing: that our government (Obama in particular) supports a system that is cruel, unjust, and unbelievably evil. You can spend months, and years, as I have, pondering this situation. Layer upon layer of lies, misinformation, fear, cowardice and complicity. Greed. It is a vast eye-opener into the causes of much of the affliction in our suffering world.

I have kept you in my awareness as someone of conscience and caring, especially about the children of the world. Please, if you can manage it, go to visit the children in Gaza, and sing to them of our mutual love of all children, and of their right not to be harmed simply because they exist.

With love, younger sister, beloved daughter and friend,

Alice Walker

UPDATE: Support the campaign calling on Alicia Keys to cancel her Tel Aviv concert, take action: 
http://blog.endtheoccupation.org/2013/05/take-action-send-al
icia-keys-your-bds.html



Source 

Buddhist mobs attack Muslim homes for second day in Myanmar; one dead

Buddhist mobs attack Muslim homes for second day in Myanmar; one dead

Reuters


A police officer stands near a mosque that was burnt during a riot between Buddhist and Muslims in Lashio township on May 29, 2013. (Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun)
Anti-Muslim sentiment continues in Myanmar as a mosque is burned down; Human Rights Watch said last years violence amounted to ethnic cleansing

May 29, 2013

Lashio, Reuters— Buddhist mobs armed with sticks and machetes burned Muslim homes on Wednesday for a second day in the northern Myanmar city of Lashio, contradicting claims in state media that soldiers and police had restored calm.

A Reuters reporter saw scores of young men and boys on motorbikes and on foot marauding through the city of 130,000 people in a mountainous region about 430 miles from the commercial capital Yangon.

One person was killed and four were wounded in fighting that began at about 2 p.m., Ye Htut, spokesman for President Thein Sein, said in a Facebook post. Police fired their guns to disperse the crowd, he said.

By early evening, Muslims shops and homes were still burning in one quarter, underlining the difficulty the president faces in containing mounting religious violence in an era of historic reforms since military rule ended in March 2011.

"I don’t know where the Muslims are. They all ran away," said Kyaw Soe Win, a Buddhist resident of a mixed neighbourhood where motorbikes and household possessions lay burning in the streets. Nearby, a man with a sword and a stick combed through the remains of one burned-out shop.

State television said a mosque, a Muslim religious school and a number of shops were gutted by fires started on Tuesday by Buddhists who rampaged after hearing reports of a Muslim man setting a Buddhist woman on fire and badly wounding her. State media said calm had returned by Wednesday.

Myanmar has struggled with religious unrest since June last year when fighting between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya erupted in western Rakhine State.

That was followed by organised Rakhine attacks on Rohingya communities in October that New York-based Human Rights Watch said amounted to ethnic cleansing. The government calls the stateless Rohingya illegal "Bengali" immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

British tourist Stephen Barker, 46, told Reuters he saw a group of about 100 machete and stick-carrying youths rallying around his hotel in the early afternoon, including four or five monks. Police and military moved them on and arrested half a dozen people.

"I got a light for my cigarette from one and he told me to kill all Bengalis while waving this 18-inch blade around."
Muslims appeared to have fled a mixed Lashio neighbourhood known as Quarter Number 17.

Tuesday’s unrest in Lashio was sparked by a quarrel between two people, named by state media as Aye Aye Win, 24, a Buddhist woman who sold petrol, and Ne Win, a Muslim man aged 48.

MRTV television said Ne Win poured petrol over Aye Aye Win and set her on fire. She was in hospital, it said.

After police detained Ne Win, Buddhists surrounded the police station and demanded he be handed over. When they refused, the crowd went on the rampage, attacking Myoma Mosque near Lashio market, residents said.

The authorities attempted to restore order late on Tuesday by banning unlawful assembly under a state of emergency in the city, which is about 120 miles from the Chinese border.

In March, at least 44 people, most of them Muslims, died in the central city of Meikhtila after a rampage by Buddhist mobs incensed by the killing of a monk by Muslims, shortly after a violent row between a Buddhist couple and Muslim shop owners.

Muslims make up about 5 percent of Myanmar’s 60 million people.


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Gitmo-UK? 80 to 90 Afghans held at British base without charges

Gitmo-UK? 80 to 90 Afghans held at British base without charges

RussiaToday

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British forces approach an area during a patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Reuters / Omar Sobhani)

May 29, 2013





British troops in Afghanistan are holding 80 to 90 people, some for up to 14 months, without charges. In response to lawyer allegations the facility is a Guantanamo-style prison, the UK has said the prisoners will be returned to Afghan jurisdiction.

The prisoners, Afghan nationals suspected of crimes or having links to insurgents, are kept in detention at Camp Bastion, the largest UK base in Afghanistan, housing some 30,000 troops. Normally British troops are supposed to hold prisoners in custody for no longer than 96 hours, but under exceptional circumstances longer detention is possible.

Apparently there are almost a hundred such exceptional cases currently. Lawyers acting for eight of the men say some of the prisoners have been held without charge for up to 14 months, arguing that it could be amount to unlawful detention. They also say that the situation has been kept a secret from the public.

In response to the legal furor, UK Secretary of Defense Philip Hammond has pledged for the detainees to be
returned to the Afghan authorities "within days."

"The UK could have trained the Afghan authorities to detain people lawfully with proper standards and making sure that they are treated humanely," Phil Shiner, of Public Interest Lawyers, told the BBC.

"Parliament has not been told that we have this secret facility," he added.

UK Parliamentary officials found out about the camp themselves from press reports.

"I found out from the news outlets, but I do understand that it has been on the Ministry of Defence website for some time that there were people who were being held there," British Labour MP, Barry Gardiner, told RT, going on to say:

"They’re being held without charge, but not without an end to the process," in comparison to Guantanamo. "I don’t accept the parallel with Guantanamo, but I do agree that it is a very distressing matter that these men have been in detention for so long and it has not yet been brought to a judicial conclusion."

British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed the detention of the prisoners and their number, but not the time of their detention. He said Ministry of Defence did nothing wrong in the situation and denied the allegation that the government failed to report about the prisoners, saying both the current cabinet and the previous one informed the parliament.

Earlier the MoD defended the imprisonment at the base.

"The UK's temporary holding facilities at Camp Bastion are regularly monitored by the ICRC," the MoD said in a statement, referring to the International Committee of the Red Cross, adding that the detentions "are legal under the UN mandate and comply with all applicable international obligations."

The secretary explained that the prisoners in question pose a threat to British troops if released, and that "protecting troops, whether it is from being murdered on the streets of London or the fields of Helmand province."

But the MoD cannot hand them over to Afghan authorities because of the actions of their lawyers, Hammond said.

"What Mr. Shiner didn’t tell you is that last year his firm started proceedings against the department precisely to prevent us handing them over to the Afghan judicial authorities because of concerns of treatment of prisoners in the Afghan system," he told BBC Radio 4.

In November last year Hammond issued a temporary ban on transfer of prisoners to Afghan detention after a farmer claimed that he had been tortured in a prison after being captured by UK troops and handed over to Afghani judicial.

Official Kabul is sensitive about detention of Afghans by the US-led military coalition and wants to see all of the prisoners under Afghanistan’s control. The handing over of the Bagram Prison from the US to Afghanistan, which had been delayed several times, was a major irritant in relations between President Hamid Karzai’s government and the Obama administration.

The lawyers have launched habeas corpus applications at the High Court in London, with a full hearing due in on July 23.

'British Guantanamo another blow to Cameron’s credibility’

There’s enough grounds to compare the secret British prison in Afghanistan to the infamous US Guantanamo detention facility, as the UK is holding people, they consider dangerous, in custody without having any legal grounds to do so, Jim Brann of the Stop The War coalition told RT.

The activist believes that by explaining that the handover of detainees to the Afghan authorities is prevented by the 1984 torture convention, the British government has "caught itself in a bind of its own making."

"The only real difference [with Guantanamo] is, unless they are forced by pressure, they’ll keep them as long as possible because they say they can’t hand them over and they don’t want to let them go," he said. "The only difference is that because it’s limited to the Afghan war and because British troops are supposed to stop being there in a combat war at least within a year-and-a-half. Then I suppose the British government would say: well, it must come to an end a year-and-a-half from now, in which case it’ll hand them over to the Afghan authorities, in which case it’ll put itself in danger of violating the torture convention."

The fact that British MPs had no idea of the Afghan prison’s very existence "means that the parliamentary committees haven’t done their job because sufficient questioning would have discovered the facts about these detainees."

"But, certainly, the defense secretary hasn’t mentioned it and there’s this rule in Britain called Parliamentary Sovereignty, and the parliament is supposed to be sovereign. So, that’s where the issue of contempt of parliament comes from," Brann added.

The activist stressed that the prison issue is yet another blow to the credibility of David Cameron’s government, which can now only "keep their fingers crossed" hoping that the opposition won’t use this trump card against them.


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More questions about MI5’s relations with Woolwich killers

More questions about MI5’s relations with Woolwich killers

By Julie Hyland

May 29, 2013
Questions continue to pile up over the security services’ familiarity and contact with the two killers of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich, southeast London.

Rigby was hacked to death on a public high road, near Woolwich army barracks. His killers, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, made no attempt to flee the scene, instead talking to members of the public and giving video statements justifying their savage assault as revenge for the killings of Muslims by the British army in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For days the media and political elite sought to deny that their gruesome assault has any connection with British foreign policy. Initially they also denied that the two were known to the security services, portraying them as "clean skins."

This quickly unravelled. It been confirmed that both were under surveillance for years—in Adebolajo’s case, since at least 2005. In addition, at the weekend, the Kenyan authorities finally admitted they had detained Adebolajo in November 2010 as part of a group attempting to cross the border into Somalia to join the Al Qaeda-aligned al-Shabaab.

In a statement, the Kenyan government confirmed his arrest under the name of Michael Olemindis Ndemolajo. He appeared in court and was handed over to British authorities, after which "he seems to have found his way to London. The Kenyan government cannot be held responsible for what happened to him after we handed him to British authorities."

Details of Adebolajo’s arrest first came to light in an interview with the BBC’s Newsnight programme last week by Adebolajo’s close friend, Abu Nusaybah. He reported that Adebolajo had been detained, and physically and sexually tortured in Kenya, before being deported to the UK. He also reported that MI5 had made repeated approaches to Adebolajo on his return, attempting to recruit him to infiltrate jihadist groups in the UK.

In extraordinary development, Nusaybah was arrested by intelligence officers at the studio immediately following his recorded interview, and remains in detention on unspecified charges.

Speaking to ITV news, Nusaybah’s account was confirmed by Adebolajo’s brother-in-law. Immediately on hearing of his arrest in Kenya, the family "contacted the British government and essentially, they refused to do anything and the Kenyans were saying they were going to kill him, behead him," he said. "We had clear proof that he was being tortured ... violently and sexually."

On his return, Adebolajo had changed and become "a lot quieter and quite bitter towards the fact that he wasn't getting any help from anyone," his brother-in-law continued. "They [the British authorities] did the opposite of what they were doing really. If they wanted help [with information on jihadists], surely they would have given him some support first?"

The security services had approached Adebolajo to work for them, his brother-in-law continued. "They obviously asked him would he be a spy for them ... You’d expect maybe they’d say 'Can you tell us about Kenya, can we do anything for you?’ But instead you know, they basically pestered him for years, when he was trying to recover from something psychologically damaging."

Allegations that MI5 "pestered" Adebolajo are backed up by the Guardian, which disclosed that he had seen lawyers last year to complain of harassment by the security services.

According to the Independent, however, Britain’s security services "sought to recruit" Adebolajo while he was being held by the Kenyan authorities. The Foreign Office would only confirm that he had received "consular assistance … as is normal for British nationals detained."

Adebolajo was held in custody for several days in Mombasa. When he appeared in court he complained of severe mistreatment, including being denied food for days. If the accounts by family members and the Independent are true, it would mean that the British authorities were aware of his abuse and did nothing to stop it. Given allegations that the security services were trying to recruit him, this can only be because they hoped such mistreatment would break him and make him amenable to approaches.

Adebolajo returned to the UK without any reported follow-up investigation, let alone charges, as to his suspected activities in Kenya. This was despite the fact, again according to the Independent citing "Whitehall sources", that Adebolajo "also made a second attempt to travel to Somalia last year but was stopped by MI5 and warned he would be detained once more by the Kenyans."

These accounts refute claims that, despite eight years of surveillance and two occasions in which he had presented himself as someone actively seeking to engage in terrorist-related activities, Adebolajo was considered a "peripheral" figure, or a "non-risk". This claim is made all the more suspect because the ruling elite has continuously cited terrorist activities in Somalia as a major threat, warranting British involvement in the impoverished African country.

It was only on May 7 that Prime Minister David Cameron hosted the second "UK-Somalia Conference" in London, where he warned that Somalia mattered "because when young minds are poisoned by radicalism and they go on to export terrorism and extremism, the security of the whole world is at stake."

As regards Adebowale, Sky News revealed that he had recently been reported to police by a local shopkeeper for "grooming" a 12-year old schoolboy into jihadi politics. The shopkeeper, who spoke anonymously, said that he was told Adebowale "was being monitored by security services and his movements were being monitored."

While the extent of MI5’s involvement with the Woolwich killers is concealed, public revulsion generated by the horrible death is being used to further attack civil liberties.

In what amounts to a form of collective punishment, this assault targets Muslims—although its broader aim is to undermine the democratic rights of all working people.

Home Secretary Theresa May has set out new measures to prevent the "radicalisation of British Muslims", including "pre-emptive" censorship of the Internet, banning radical Muslim groups even if they disavow terrorism and violence, and a further crackdown on freedom of speech, especially on university campuses.

Exact details have yet to be announced, but indicating the open-ended character of the intended measures, May argued, "There is no doubt that people are able to watch things through the Internet which can lead to radicalisation."

May made clear that she intends to revive the Communications Data Bill, dubbed the "snoopers’ charter" because of the wide-ranging powers it seeks to give to police, security services and the authorities to intercept all electronic communications.

The Conservative Party had been forced to retreat from the bill after protests by civil liberty organisations and sections of the Liberal Democrats, with which it is in coalition. But two former Labour home secretaries, Lord Reid and Alan Johnson, have backed the measures, while former Conservative Home Secretary Lord Howard called on Cameron and May to form a bloc with Labour to get the measures through Parliament.

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